Sense and Sensibility

Key

FID

indirect

intro to FID or indirect

Chapter 7

Barton Park was about half a
mile from the cottage. The ladies had passed near it in their way along the
valley, but it was screened from their view at home by the projection of a
hill. The house was large and handsome; and the Middletons lived in a style
of equal hospitality and elegance. The former was for Sir John's
gratification, the latter for that of his lady. They were scarcely ever
without some friends staying with them in the house, and they kept more
company of every kind than any other family in the neighbourhood. It was
necessary to the happiness of both; for however dissimilar in temper and
outward behaviour, they strongly resembled each other in that total want of
talent and taste which confined their employments, unconnected with such as
society produced, within a very narrow compass. Sir John was a sportsman,
Lady Middleton a mother. He hunted and shot, and she humoured her children;
and these were their only resources. Lady Middleton had the advantage of
being able to spoil her children all the year round, while Sir John's
independent employments were in existence only half the time. Continual
engagements at home and abroad, however, supplied all the deficiencies of
nature and education; supported the good spirits of Sir John, and gave
exercise to the good breeding of his wife.

Lady Middleton piqued
herself upon the elegance of her table, and of all her domestic
arrangements; and from this kind of vanity was her greatest enjoyment in any
of their parties. But Sir John's satisfaction in society was much more real;
he delighted in collecting about him more young people than his house would
hold, and the noisier they were the better was he pleased. He was a blessing
to all the juvenile part of the neighbourhood, for in summer he was for ever
forming parties to eat cold ham and chicken out of doors, and in winter his
private balls were numerous enough for any young lady who was not suffering
under the unsatiable appetite of fifteen.

The arrival of a new family
in the country was always a matter of joy to him, and in every point of view
he was charmed with the inhabitants he had now procured for his cottage at
Barton. The Miss Dashwoods were young, pretty, and unaffected. It was enough
to secure his good opinion; for to be unaffected was all that a pretty girl
could want to make her mind as captivating as her person. The friendliness
of his disposition made him happy in accommodating those, whose situation
might be considered, in comparison with the past, as unfortunate. In showing
kindness to his cousins therefore he had the real satisfaction of a good
heart; and in settling a family of females only in his cottage, he had all
the satisfaction of a sportsman; for a sportsman, though he esteems only
those of his sex who are sportsmen likewise, is not often desirous of
encouraging their taste by admitting them to a residence within his own
manor.

Mrs. Dashwood and her
daughters were met at the door of the house by Sir John, who welcomed them
to Barton Park with unaffected sincerity; and asheattended them to the drawing
roomrepeatedto the young ladiesthe concernwhich the same subject had
drawn from him the day before,at being unable to get any smart
young men to meet them.They would see,he said,only one gentleman there besides
himself; a particular friend who was staying at the park, but who was
neither very young nor very gay. He hoped they would all excuse the
smallness of the party, and could assure them it should never happen so
again. He had been to several families that morning in hopes of procuring
some addition to their number, but it was moonlight and every body was full
of engagements. Luckily Lady Middleton's mother had arrived at Barton within
the last hour, and as she was a very cheerful agreeable woman, he hoped the
young ladies would not find it so very dull as they might imagine.The young ladies, as well as
their mother, were perfectly satisfied with having two entire strangers of
the party, and wished for no more.

Mrs. Jennings, Lady
Middleton's mother, was a good-humoured, merry, fat, elderly woman, who
talked a great deal, seemed very happy, and rather vulgar. She was full of
jokes and laughter, and before dinner was over had said many witty things on
the subject of lovers and husbands;hoped they had not left their
hearts behind them in Sussex,and pretended to see them
blush whether they did or not. Marianne was vexed at it for her sister's
sake, and turned her eyes towards Elinor to see how she bore these attacks,
with an earnestness which gave Elinor far more pain than could arise from
such common-place raillery as Mrs. Jennings's.

Colonel Brandon, the friend
of Sir John, seemed no more adapted by resemblance of manner to be his
friend, than Lady Middleton was to be his wife, or Mrs. Jennings to be Lady
Middleton's mother. He was silent and grave. His appearance however was not
unpleasing, in spite of his being in the opinion of Marianne and Margaret an absolute old
bachelor,for he was on the wrong side
of five and thirty; but though his face was not handsome, his countenance
was sensible, and his address was particularly gentlemanlike.

There was nothing in any of
the party which could recommend them as companions to the Dashwoods; but the
cold insipidity of Lady Middleton was so particularly repulsive, that in
comparison of it the gravity of Colonel Brandon, and even the boisterous
mirth of Sir John and his mother-in-law was interesting. Lady Middleton
seemed to be roused to enjoyment only by the entrance of her four noisy
children after dinner, who pulled her about, tore her clothes, and put an
end to every kind of discourse except what related to themselves.

In the evening, as Marianne
was discovered to be musical, she was invited to play. The instrument was
unlocked, every body prepared to be charmed, and Marianne, who sang very
well, at their request went through the chief of the songs which Lady
Middleton had brought into the family on her marriage, and which perhaps had
lain ever since in the same position on the pianoforte, for her ladyship had
celebrated that event by giving up music, although by her mother's account,
she had played extremely well, and by her own was very fond of it.

Marianne's performance was
highly applauded. Sir John was loud in his admiration at the end of every
song, and as loud in his conversation with the others while every song
lasted. Lady Middleton frequently called him to order, wondered how any
one's attention could be diverted from music for a moment, and asked
Marianne to sing a particular song which Marianne had just finished. Colonel
Brandon alone, of all the party, heard her without being in raptures. He
paid her only the compliment of attention; and she felt a respect for him on
the occasion, which the others had reasonably forfeited by their shameless
want of taste. His pleasure in music, though it amounted not to that
ecstatic delight which alone could sympathize with her own, was estimable
when contrasted against the horrible insensibility of the others; and she
was reasonable enough to allow that a man of five and thirty might well have
outlived all acuteness of feeling and every exquisite power of enjoyment.
She was perfectly disposed to make every allowance for the colonel's
advanced state of life which humanity required.